Eating healthy on a budget is hard, but not impossible.
Trust me, for years I lived right at the poverty line, and had to eat on shoe string budget.
But I didn’t want to just eat any type of food, I wanted to eat healthy as well.
I’ll do my best to explain how I’ve made eating healthy on a budget work for me over the years.
Lets get started.
Healthy eating on a budget, tip # 1 → Buy food in bulk
Yes, this means you’re going to have hit the grocery store and go shopping.
It’s far cheaper to buy food at the grocery store, and make your own meals, than it is to constantly eat out.
If you have the money, and there is one near by, I recommend splurging and buying a Costo membership.
When it comes to buying food in bulk, it’s hard to beat Costco prices in the long run. You’ll quickly save more at Costco than the membership costs, vs. buying foods at your local grocery store.
You can get great deals on meat, frozen vegetables, frozen fruit, instant packs of rice, and healthy fats (among other things). Basically, all the essentials that you need to eat healthy.
They also have pretty good deals on bulk protein powder (aka, making your own protein shakes…which we will talk about in just a second).
But, what if you don’t have the money, and/or live near a Costco?
Can you still save money buying food at the grocery store?
Yes.
And, that leads me to tip #2— Get cool with coupons.
Healthy eating on a budget, tip # 2 → Get cool with coupons
So, way back in the day, people used to clip these things out of newspapers. These things were called “coupons” and they allowed you to save money on certain items at the grocery store.
I’m pretty sure most grocery stores still give out a physical book of coupons, but you can also download a coupon app on your phone for most big grocery stores.
Either way, when you are trying to eat healthy on a budget, you need to start taking advantage of coupons. You’ll be surprised at how much money you can start to save, when you start to pile on the coupons at checkout.
Yes, it’s going to take a little detective work on your end. But, if you’re tight on cash it’s well worth the effort.
When I was trying to eat healthy on a budget I would keep an eye out for the upcoming, “Buy One, Get One” sale on packs of meat.
On the days when my local grocery store would run this sale do you know what I would do?
Yes, I would go spend $50 for $100 worth of meat. And honestly, at the time spending $50 would sting, but I’d rush home and stick all that meat in the freezer. That much meat would last me quite a while.
So, I would spend a chunk of money upfront, but I was able to make A LOT of meals for very cheap.
Other great sales to watch out for are $1 off bags of frozen vegetables, buy one get one blueberries.
To sum up this tip, coupons will save you a lot of money on food. Yes, it will take some work to find those deals, but it’s well worth the time when you’re on a budget.
I suggest downloading your local grocery store’s app (or at least getting their points card) but if you like physically touching coupons grab one of their coupon books and spend an hour clipping out the best coupons for you.
Trust me, it’s worth it.
Healthy eating on a budget, tip # 3 → Bulk cook with a croc pot
Ok, so somehow you’ve either saved a bunch of money on food by using coupons, or you’ve saved a bunch of money on food by buying in bulk at Costco.
Either way, you’re going to have to cook it.
I suggest cooking meals in bulk, and putting them in tupperware containers for easy grab-n-go meals.
The fastest, simplest, most effective way I know how to rapidly cook a lot of food (with very little effort) is by using a croc pot.
For those that don’t know, a croc pot is basically a slow cooker, designed to slowly cook food over a long period of time.
And, they rock.
You can make all kinds of foods with a croc pot, such as: chili, shredded pork, shredded chicken, or vegetable stew.
Below is my favorite bulk cooking croc pot recipe:
Croc Pot Beef
- 1–3 slabs of steak (the fattier, the better…aka cheap cuts; no need to use a NY Strip here)
- 2–4 chopped up carrots
- 2 chopped up sweet potatos
- 1 container of beef broth
- Couple pumps of salt and pepper
Add all the ingredients into the pot. Make sure that the beef broth covers all the contents.
Set the croc pot on low heat for about 8 hours, and voila. Once it’s done cooking you’ll have 3–5 meals of shredded pork and sweet potatoes ready to be put into tupperware containers and stored for later in the week.
Simple, cheap, and easy.
Healthy eating on a budget, tip # 4 → Drink homemade protein shakes
Alright, I told you we’d get back to protein powder.
Spending $25–40 on a tub of protein may seem expensive, but lets think about that for a second.
Most tubs of protein give you between 20–40 servings. So, if your protein costs $30, and gives you 20 servings, you’re essentially paying $1.50 per scoop.
That’s not terrible.
And, you only really need some frozen fruit (which you hopefully bought in bulk), and almond milk to blend together and make a delicious smoothie.
So, it’s safe to say that you can reasonably make a homemade protein shake for around $3–4, per shake.
That’s a pretty good deal if you ask me.
Replacing a meal each day with a shake is not only great for weight loss, but also great for eating healthy on a budget.
Healthy eating on a budget, tip # 5 → DON’T BUY ORGANIC
Alright, if you’re balling on a budget, please don’t spend (waste) your valuable food money buying organic, grass-fed, or anything else like that.
Is eating grass-fed meat better than farmed raised meat.
Yes.
However, it’s not so much better than it’s worth you paying 30–50% more for.
When you make it big and have a ton of extra cash lying around, then sure, go ahead and buy grass-fed everything.
However, until that happens you’re going to have to sacrifice some quality in your food, for quantity.
This is ok, and perhaps not eating the type of foods you want to eat can be your motivation to figure out a way to make more money.
It was for me.
Seriously, I was sick of looking at grass-fed steaks, but not being able to afford them.
Not being able to buy the foods I wanted at the grocery store fired me up to be successful. And, it still does.
So, I promise that you can still eat healthy, without eating organic. But you can’t eat much of anything if you spend all your cash on buying one awesome grass-fed steak (as amazing as they taste).
Healthy eating on a budget, tip # 6 → Keep your bill small at restaurants
I know you’re on a budget, but say you wanted to enjoy a meal out with your friends.
Can you still do this, even if you’re pinching pennies?
I mean, that’s up to you to decide.
But say you think you can swing it, and end up at a restaurant with your friends.
What are a few ways you can enjoy yourself, without breaking the bank?
Well first of all, order water.
Most restaurants will charge you $2–3+ for any drink on the menu.
If you really need some flavor in your drink ask for a water with lemon. Or, if they have it, and you want to add some fizz to your drink, ask for a sparkling water (not club soda) and lemon.
You’ll save a few bucks there.
Also, don’t order dessert. Again, most desserts are going to instantly add $5–7+ to your bill.
If you’re trying to eat healthy on a budget, spending a bunch of money on a dessert is madness.
Instead, bring a pack of gum (or hard candy), so when everyone is having dessert you can pop in a few pieces of gum, and still get that little sugar fix with your friends—without running up your bill.
Just realize there are only so many ways you can eat healthy on a budget at a restaurant. But if you can pay for just your main course + a tip at the end, I’d say you’ve done pretty well.
Note: I’m not trying to tell you how to live your life, but if you can’t afford to tip your server at the end of the meal (who lives off those tips), you may want to consider sitting that meal out. Or, just going and hanging out.
Well, that pretty much sums up a few years of my life, and how I tried to eat healthy on a budget.
I’ve made it work doing some other things, but the list above are things I found worked the best for me (and, hopefully saved me the most money).
I hope these tips are helpful, and if you want to bounce ideas around, please just drop them in the comments below.
And, if you like these tips do me a favor and tap the “upvote” button. That will let me know you like these kind of posts and will fire me up big time to do more of them.
Other resources you might enjoy. And stay healthy 👍😂👍😂👍😂
Love you all
Thanks for Reading
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